R36S vs. BatleXP G350: A Budget Beatdown?

I’ve covered this topic a couple of times, but the market of handhelds under $50 has been an ever-improving field over the past 3-4 years. We’ve evolved from Ingenics JZ level processors and the venerable Allwinner F1C100S all the way up to RK3326 to even more RK3326s.

Well, the variety is gone, but the performance of the actual chip is pretty decent and a well-known quantity. The most popular of these fields is the R36S, going for as low as $20 if you know where to look. But is it still the one to buy?

The BatleXP G350 has come out recently, and it’s looking to dethrone the R36S for “Vertical, Sub $50, RK3326” to buy. But does it stack up? And is it worth the premium? Join in as I take the dive to pick these two apart to see what is the best for you.

R36S vs. BatleXP G350: Specs    

Let’s just get this out of the way first. The R36S ranges from $20-$45 depending on sales as well as where you buy them. You might be able to get it for even less if you’re lucky. The BatleXP G350 on the other hand lands more in the $30-$45 range. It hasn’t gotten to be less yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it dropped over time. 

As you can see, the specs aren’t too different, but the user experience between the two can be quite different.

Controls

Here’s the most important difference between the two, and the reason why I think the R36S needs to finally step down from its cheap throne in favor of the G350. To get the similarities out of the way first, they both use standard Nintendo Switch-style sticks that are placed toward the bottom of the handheld. That’s the similarities.

First up the shoulder buttons. The G350 has more ergonomic, and much quieter shoulder buttons than the R36S. They also take less pressure to push if that’s more your jam or you just have weak sauce fingers. When it comes to the face buttons, the R36S can be best described as “stiff”. They definitely need to break in over time. The G350 on the other hand has shiny plastic buttons reminiscent of an Anbernic H700 handheld. They feel pretty similar, so if you have one of those you’d know this is good.

Last up is the D-pad, the R36S reaches for the stiff button again, and while it has a pivot, mine is pretty sudden and isn’t the most pleasant. The G350 on the other hand, once again steals from Anbernic’s book and takes their more recent D-pads (not the really good ones, but recent). You get solid pivot and really good responsiveness, but this one feels just a little stiffer than Anbernics. But not nearly as bad as the R36S.

Ergo and Screen

This a pretty simple comparison between the two and one that shouldn’t really surprise anyone. Both devices use a bog standard 640×480 panel with a 4:3 aspect ratio. They both get decently bright and haven’t given me any issues with gameplay in terms of tearing or similar. Overall, the panels are completely average given the price point.

Ergonomics, on the other hand, is also pretty similar but is incredibly subjective. The sticks are uncomfortable to reach on both, and unless you really need them for something, I’d pretend they aren’t there at all. When stood up next to one another, the face buttons land at just about the same spot on both devices, so unless you feel the difference in the bottom curve on the R36S, these will land your hands in the same position as well.

The big difference comes from the shoulder buttons. The G350 features slightly lower shoulder buttons that also feature a small slope on them to make it easier to press down. The R36S on the other hand has larger, harder-to-press shoulder buttons that are flat across. While it’s all personal preference, I like the slope more. It’s why GetBetterButtons Shoulder Buttons are a thing after all.

OS and Usability

When it comes to OS and usability, the R36S comes out of the box with Ark OS 2.0, though I’d always recommend grabbing an official build, or an unofficial one to get running with your own personal setup. This means it runs everything an ArkOS machine would, and does it well. It even will do PortMaster if you get things set correctly.

The G350 on the other hand comes out of the box running something called BatleXP V1.0.0, though it certainly looks like it’d be some sort of Batocera setup thanks to the Emulation Station frontend. What’s nice though is that users have already found that you can run ArkOS on here as well.

What you’ll do is simply take the RG351MP build, install it to an SD card as normal, and replace the .dtb file on there with one that was adjusted for the G350 that you can find on the RH Discord. However, I really enjoy the simplicity of their initial setup. A bit more testing would tell me if I should just keep it or not.

Ban calls this the “Dongle Tower.”

One similarity between the two is a lack of support for Wi-Fi on either. That means if you want to use PortMaster and download your games wirelessly, you’ll have to use the famed Dongle Tower of Power to get that done.

Performance

Another simple category, but if you’re curious about performance. Don’t be. They’re both actual RK3326 devices and both of them will do your up to PS1 systems really well. Don’t push past that, don’t worry about anything else aside from ports if you choose to boot ArkOS on both. At this point, the RK3326 is a known quantity, and you could find those metrics in any other 3326 review. And honestly, that’s what makes me enjoy this the most. We already know what they can do. 

Final Thoughts

In the end, my opinions on the two handhelds come to this. The R36S was a clone of the RG353V in looks, and the RGB20S in quality, yet somehow it messed up both. It’s good for what it is, But the build quality concerns that have plagued it over its lifespan make it hard for me to recommend or want to keep.

The G350 on the other hand, copies neither yet steals from Anbernic handhelds to get some of my favorite controls in a sub $50 vertical handheld. It feels better built, it has a better user experience out of the box, and it won’t have the issue of having other companies cloning this one like the R36S. A thing that has happened, and we do have an article on it already. If both of these handhelds are the same price, I highly recommend grabbing the G350 over the R36S. It might not have the biggest community rallying behind it, but it is such a good handheld that I think it deserves it.

Or I don’t know, the H700 handhelds have been steadily dropping below $50 too…why not get those?

R36S at AliExpressBatleXP G350 at AliExpress

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